This invention relates to devices for precisely timing a control output signal with reference to a cyclical input signal which is coupled to a machine or process having low, or predictable, rate of change from cycle to adjacent cycle.
Devices for controlling rotating machinery often require high performance sensing devices to be attached to the machine being controlled. Direct machine position encoding is impractical in some environments of high mechanical stress or of intense magnetic fields. For example, direct attachment to the machine being controlled may be impractical where access to the rotating shaft is impractical, high rotational velocities limit attachments, or electromagnetic interference affects attached instruments.
It is therefore a general object of the present invention to provide high performance control components away from the severe mechanical and electromagnetic environment of the machine or process to be controlled.